Background
Burgess Meredith was born as George Burgess (some sources say Oliver Burgess Meredith), on November 16, 1909, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He was the son of William George Meredith and Ida (Burgess) Meredith.
1951
Meredith in movie The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker
14 Pine Valley Road, Hoosick, New York 12089, United States
Hoosac School
Amherst, MA 01002, United States
Amherst College
United States Army Air Forces (logotype)
Emmy Award
Meredith in movie Second Chorus
Meredith as the Penguin on the classic '60s TV show Batman
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Burgess Meredith as Henry Bemis in The Twilight Zone episode
Burgess Meredith in Rocky
Ingrid Bergman and Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith and Claire Trevor
Sylvester Stallone and Burgess Meredith in the first "Rocky"
Burgess Meredith, Merle Oberon and Melvyn Douglas
(The actor discusses his stage career in the 1920s, his fi...)
The actor discusses his stage career in the 1920s, his film career, Hollywood parties, his blacklisting during the communist witch hunts of the 1950s, and anecdotes about Lauren Bacall, Jeff Bridges, Charlie Chaplin, Jimmy Stewart, and others.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316567175/?tag=2022091-20
1994
Actor director producer screenwriter
Burgess Meredith was born as George Burgess (some sources say Oliver Burgess Meredith), on November 16, 1909, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He was the son of William George Meredith and Ida (Burgess) Meredith.
Meredith graduated from Hoosac School in 1926. He was then educated at Amherst College, earning his Master of Arts degree in 1939.
In 1977, Meredith received his honorary doctorate degree from Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa.
In the 1920s Meredith held a series of jobs, such as reporter, clerk, and merchant seaman, before turning his talents to acting. His Broadway debut was in Alice in Wonderland, produced in 1932. His other stage credits include The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Winterset, and The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker. Meredith also played Hal to Orson Welles’s Falstaff with the Mercury Theater.
He also directed and produced many stage productions, including Season in the Sun and A Thurber Carnival. During World War II, Meredith served in the United States Army Air Forces as a captain. After his wartime service, he returned to the screen as war correspondent Ernie Pyle in United Artists’ The Story of G.I. Joe. As a supporting player, Meredith appeared in such classics as Of Mice and Men, Advise and Consent, Diary of a Chambermaid (for which he wrote the screenplay), and McKenna’s Gold. Meredith’s distinctive voice could be heard on radio broadcasts from the 1930s to the 1950s. Meredith was also an occasional and outstanding character actor in movies, such as Castle on the Hudson, That Uncertain Feeling, Second Chorus, and Tom, Dick and Harry.
Meredith played with his wife Paulette Goddard in The Diary of a Chambermaid (which he also produced) in 1946. That film is unique in American cinema for its tone of macabre surrealism; it is also Renoirs best American film.
In 1949 he went to France to direct Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone in The Man on the Eiffel Tower, and was away from the United States for some years, possibly for political reasons, although in 1955 he was in Joe Butterfly, and in 1956 he produced a documentary, Alexander Calder. He returned in the 1960s as a small-part player of unusual distinction, especially for Otto Preminger: first as the informing witness in Advise and Consent, a weak-willed man trying to live up to the one truth he has to tell, and also in The Cardinal (1963), In Harm’s Way (1965), Hurry Sundown (1967), Skicloo (1968), and Such Good Friends (1971).
Meredith debuted on television in 1951 on The Billy Pose Show. In 1959 his portrayal of Henry Bemis, the bespeckled, book-loving, bank clerk in the Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last,” showed audiences the futility of man’s endeavors in the aftermath of nuclear war. In the mid-1960s Meredith quacked and waddled as the villain, Penguin, in ABC’s Batman series. His other television appearances include hosting the 1980s series Those Amazing Animals. His seventy-five-year career got a boost when he portrayed the boxing trainer in the Rocky film series, starring Sylvester Stallone. His later film credits include King Lear, G.I. Joe—The Movie, Night of the Hunter, Grumpy Old Men, and Grumpier Old Men.
Meredith wrote about his life in So Far, So Good, which was published in 1994. He also penned scripts for the film The Yin and the Yang as well as for the documentary Afterglow.
(The actor discusses his stage career in the 1920s, his fi...)
1994
Meredith married Helen Berrian Derby in 1932, but they divorced 3 years later. He then married Margaret H. Frueauff (Margaret Perry) in 1936. The couple divorced in 1938. Meredith was married to Paulette Goddard from May 21, 1944 till their divorce in July 1948. Finally, Meredith married Kaja Sundsten in 1950. He is survived by 2 children - Jonathan Sanford and Tala Beth.